With the exception of brief appearances (neither very impressive, I might add) by David Wright and Billy Wagner in the All-Star Game, the Mets have been non-entities here in New York since they last played on Sunday night: a game that marked their ninth consecutive win. That was actually only three days ago, but it seems like at least a WEEK to me.
Perhaps because it seems so distant, I keep asking myself, “Did it REALLY happen?!” “Did we REALLY sweep the Giants AND the Rockies?!”
Yes, it must be true: after Matt Holliday’s home run to put the National League on the board last night, FOX’s Joe Buck mentioned how Holliday had recently had no such success at Shea Stadium.
I’m sure one reason I keep questioning whether or not I imagined the Mets’ recent success is because there was SUCH an inordinate amount of spectacle surrounding the Yankees and Derek Jeter and A-Rod and Madonna and THE LAST ALL-STAR GAME AT YANKEE STADIUM and all-things-Yankee for the past few days.
But soon all of the banners will come down and DHL Fan-Fest wll be dismantled and trucked away. Already the red carpet has been ripped up and the NYPD barricades removed following the parade down Sixth Avenue. Presumably, the old-timers have returned to their homes.
And tomorrow the players will resume playing the regular baseball season. No exhibition games. No farcical home run olypmics. No glorified trade shows. No morass of Chevy vehicles on parade and the resulting street closures.
The Yankees aren’t even playing tomorrow. Will the Mets then be worthy of some local press once more?
After all, they really DID win NINE in a row. And will go for TEN tomorrow in Cincinnati. And we’re merely [Pinch me again, please!] a HALF GAME behind first-place Philadelphia!
And the Yankees? Well, they go to Oakland on Friday. Six games out. With a dearth of pitching. With Johnny Damon on the DL and Matsui pondering season-ending surgery.
I think this really IS a Met fan’s dream.
Please, PLEASE…don’t wake me up just yet!
Perfect Pitch 